Boeing Chief Executive James McNerney on May 12 asked whether the company's space division could meet the challenge of Silicon Valley. Interrupting a question-and-answer session with analysts at the Boeing 2015 Investor Conference, held in Chicago, McNerney threw a zinger at Chris Chadwick, head of the Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) division. "Is Silicon Valley going to destroy your space business?" McNerney asked Chadwick. "I just thought I'd throw that out there." It is unclear whether Chadwick had been warned of the question ahead of time. Here is his response: "No, actually we see that as an opportunity. You look at Elon Musk and what he's doing. He's brought some new energy into the space business and we've competed head to head very successfully. Look at the last two-and-one-half years. We've been rock solid in [Ground-based Missile Defense], solid on launch and won SLS [NASA's next-generation Space Launch System], won commercial crew" - as did SpaceX - "with very good contractual deals.
展开▼
